Stoke vs. Chelsea: Score and Reaction from 2015 Capital One Cup Match
Capital One Cup titleholders Chelsea tumbled out of the tournament on Tuesday evening following a 5-4 penalty-shootout defeat to 10-man Stoke City after drawing 1-1 in extra time.
Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland saved a decisive spot-kick from two-time Chelsea Player of the Year Eden Hazard to oust the Blues from the League Cup, their eighth defeat of the season.
Jonathan Walters opened the scoring with a sensational strike from range only for Loic Remy to steal an equaliser in the 91st minute before Phil Bardsley saw red at the end of normal time.
Walters' 52nd-minute opener was the highlight of the evening, sizzling in a long-range effort on the turn to give the Potters belief they were capable of upsetting their Premier League peers.
Following on from the draw at Dynamo Kiev and Saturday's 2-1 defeat at West Ham United, Tuesday's shaky display puts Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho even further under the microscope, per Match of the Day's Gary Lineker:
The Blues came into Tuesday's fixture without a win in their last two outings, and Mourinho was facing the prospect of another three-match winless run after the two teams went in scoreless at the break.
Chelsea could feel slightly aggrieved at not claiming a lead in the first half, particularly after seeing striker Diego Costa boss his way among the Potters defence until having to withdraw with a rib injury before half-time.
It just about summed up the west Londoners' misfortune of late, and while Loic Remy couldn't quite offer the same physical threat to the opposition, Chelsea nevertheless accounted for a bulk of the scoring chances.
And despite having their star striker on the sidelines, Chelsea thought they'd found the breakthrough with captain John Terry, but his backheeled effort in the 40th was correctly ruled offside.
Even amid all the doom and gloom of late, the visitors may have been expected to hit back harder in the second period, but it took Walters just seven minutes to thunder home his opener. Uber Chelsea FC acknowledged what a different display this was to the Stoke side that lost 4-0 to Chelsea two years ago:
Manager Mark Hughes' men had been suffocated in clear-cut opportunities up until the 52nd-minute intervention, where Walters collected a bobbling ball with back to goal before turning and snapping a half-volley in off the Blues' crossbar.
The travelling outfit were visibly flattened by that setback, and the Potters predictably piled the hurt on Mourinho, per BBC Sport's Tom Rostance:
It became a test in stamina for Stoke City as they were left camped in their own half, repelling chance after chance while being forced to operate almost exclusively on the counter—and even then managing to threaten.
And all that pressure eventually told when Remy seized upon a ricocheting ball to poke home the equaliser in the first minute of extra time shortly before full-back Phil Bardsley was sent off, earning a second caution for hauling down Kenedy.
The momentum of the match continued to swing in Chelsea's favour for extra time, but even with the advantage of an extra man, the Blues huffed and puffed but still struggled to find the decider.
Hughes' side milked every spell of possession for what it was worth, and Butland pulled off a sensational save in the 118th minute to keep his side in the contest following a mistake from substitute Xherdan Shaqiri.
Nine stepped up to the 12-yard spot, and nine dispatched their efforts before Hazard's turn came. And it was almost fate that Mourinho's fallen hero should have been the one to bear the cross of Tuesday's defeat.
Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News saw the Belgian's demeanour as a hint toward his drop in self-confidence, and Butland saved high to his right to send the Britannia into ecstasy:
This still isn't the fluid and free-flowing Chelsea we became so accustomed to seeing last season, and the Special One will once again be left scratching his head as to where things went so far wrong.
Mourinho's men don't have much time to dust themselves off after Tuesday's result before preparing for Saturday's Premier League crunch encounter with Liverpool then playing host to Dynamo Kiev next Wednesday.
A clash against the Reds could go a long way in influencing Mourinho's Stamford Bridge future, and while a win over the Merseysiders would substantially help his cause, defeat could be the nail in his coffin.
The Potters currently sit one point and one place above Chelsea in the Premier League standings, and they could hit the Blues with two blows in one week if able to beat Newcastle on their trip to St James' Park this Saturday.
Post-Match Reaction
Another defeat for Chelsea means there's only likely to be continued criticism against the team, its players and indeed its manager, with pressure weighing heavier at Stamford Bridge now more than ever.
However, Mourinho was keen to back up his stars even in the wake of Tuesday's defeat, per Liam Prenderville of the Daily Mirror, and said his players answered a lot of those critics positively:
"What some people write and say is really bad for the players. What the players did tonight is face some people that write and speak, and said: "You are stupid." Maybe they think my players are like them when they were players. My players don't do that, they tried everything.
If anyone saw the second half the other day, playing with 10 men the way they did, it's a lack of respect for the players.
"
The official Chelsea Twitter account quoted Mourinho, who confirmed Costa was in the hospital with a rib injury, and the result didn't appear to hurt him too much as he insisted upon a day off:
Before signing out of the post-match conference, the Portuguese did touch on what he felt was a contradiction in the media following his fall from last season's Premier League winning hero to zero: "A few months ago I won a few matches and I was champion. People were saying there are things more important than results. Now, people say results are the most important thing. It's a contradiction."
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